I have decided to join the blogging craze. I am looking forward to taking a moment to find out a little more about the plants I have been photographing. I hope to explore all aspects of plants, flowers, trees and other garden related topics. Sorry about having to watermark the photos but there are a lot of people using them without permission.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

ABC Wednesday

It’s is Wednesday again already. If you are visiting for Wordless Wednesday skip all these words and scroll down to the next post.

I don’t think I have ever updated my blog twice in one day but I guess there is a first time for everything. I went to the New York Botanical Garden on Sunday to try some rose photography and while making my way out to the rose garden I had my eye out for a plant whose name began with ‘E’. I actually found several with these two coming out the best. The first one is Euphorbia corollata, which is known colloquially as Redneck Baby’s Breath. I hadn’t seen this Midwest native before but it certainly caught my attention as there was literally a million flowers on the plant. From a far I did think it was Baby’s Breath but as I got closer I could see that it wasn’t. It reminded me of a giant cloud of white flowers.

The second plant is similar to the first in the fact that it too likes dry and tough conditions. It looks like something you would stumble on in New Mexico or Arizona but it is another Midwestern plant. The long leaves are very reminiscent of Yucca foliage (hence the species name). I find it interesting for it’s common name, Rattlesnake Master. It was so named because people used to think it was helpful after one was bitten by a rattlesnake (which is not the case). There were several other medicinal uses during the 19th century none of which are used today. There is plant that is closely related to this one called Blue Sea Holly (Eryngium amethystinum) and I really wanted a picture of that to show here I couldn’t find any blooming. Both the white and blue versions some of the stems are the same color as the flower, which I found fascinating. This was my first reference to the family, Apiaceae, which is commonly known as the Celery family. Among its 300 species are some deadly plants like Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum) and some garden favorites like Masterwort (Astrantia major) and many edible plants including Parsley and Carrots. One of the identifying factors of this family is the plants have hollow stems (I know, really helpful plant trivia).

I am looking forward to seeing what the other people come up with for ABC Wednesday. I am already planning my ‘F’ shot. I wish I had more time to visit everybody’s Blog during the week. I really must put to together a list and click through it a couple of times a week. There at least 100 Blogs that I like and my approach to visiting them is a bit scatterbrained. I will again try and visit everyone.

Here are a few of the blogs joining in:(I'll post more when I find them.)

EDITED TO ADD: Apparently Blogger doesn't seem to want to upload my list of links and my pictures. Sorry for those people that came to see the pictures and saw nothing your patience is greatly appreciated. I will have to start checking my posts on my wife's computer as the pictures appeared fine on mine.

A great "E" post...I really wish now I hadn't decided I'd do no flower or insect photos as most of my photos are of one or the other. I enjoy reading about how plants get their common names..even if common names can cause confusion. As soon as I saw Baby's Breath I thought of Gypsophila. Well done for giving the correct names on all your posts. :o)

I love the Euphorbia , they are great palnts. I had never seen teh Eryngium but I havent lived in the Midwest for a long time. WE have an interesting plant here in VA that is called Rattlesnake Plantain. It was called that because it is located where rattlesnakes live, which is true . I enjoy abc Wednesday!